Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor on PC (Steam) – The DVDfever Review

Conclusion

Monolith has truly excelled in creating Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Their new Lithtech engine certainly pushes gaming PCs to their limits but also caters for low-end users. They have created a world that is alive and interesting to be a part of. The game itself is a HUGE masterpiece giving many hours of play, even more if you like collecting items whilst doing the missions. There is just so much to see and do, no stone has been left unturned with the lore added to said collectibles and the flashbacks you will see involving Celebrimbor and the Rings of Power.

Adding the Nemesis system is unique and pushes you as a player to better yourself with tactics and understanding the best way to go up against the Captains and War Chiefs. On top of this you also have hunting missions (hunting various animals around Mordor, starting with small creatures like spiders up to the larger beasts), survivalist missions (collecting various plants and fauna) and also the various other items that will gain you currency and unlock more of the lore of Middle Earth. There are also power struggles between Captains where you can essentially side with one by joining a pitched battle to help another get higher up in the ranks; you may do this to get rid of a troublesome Uruk that has killed you numerous times. There are also slave rescue missions where you can go in swinging your sword to eliminate the enemy or using stealth silently picking off foes to rescue the captives. How you play is entirely up to you.

Once you have finished the main campaign there are also challenges you can take part in that sees you fighting off swarms of Orcs for a place on the online leaderboards.

There is also a Season Pass, reasonably priced at £20 giving you extra story missions involving Celebrimbor and Sauron & hunting missions. Included also are the Trials of War Challenge Series and Guardians of the Flaming Eye War Band mission. This is what is available now on the Season Pass and it does state there is more to come giving you even more value for money and drawing you back into Middle Earth.

The downsides are minimal; I chose the Dark Ranger outfit for Talion when I started, during cut scenes though he has his standard skin which slightly disconnects the cut scenes from the player. I also have to say that the graphics requirements are a bit over the top, most graphics cards on the PC now come with 3Gb VRAM, GeForce Titan cards with 6Gb VRAM pricing starts at £683 firmly putting them out the price range of most users. I am wondering if this has something to do with the unified RAM architecture on the XB1 and PS4 as users with modern 3Gb GPU’s and 16Gb System RAM cannot run the game with the ULTRA HD textures.

However if you have something like a quad core Phenom II, 8 Gb Ram and a Geforce 560Ti you will be able to run the game in 1080P with medium textures and it still looks and plays absolutely superb.

Finally we have a great game set in Middle Earth that is worthwhile playing through and absorbing, I will still be playing this one in months to come and have been singing its praises to friends.

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor is released on the following formats (all out now except PS3 and Xbox 360, which are out on November 21st):

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Important info:

• Publisher: Monolith
• Players: 1-multiplayer

GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT VALUE (inc. Season Pass content)	9.5 9 9 9.5 10
OVERALL	9.5